The office Christmas party is back on

It’s sophisticated soirées rather than downright debauchery as big celebrations are back in the City this Christmas. Rosamund Urwin says cheers to the office do

Tuesday 26 November 2013 11:32 BST

My favourite tale of Christmas party misery comes from a friend who once worked for a documentary company with four staff. The do was held in the office. She and two colleagues spent the entire evening watching their boss play table tennis against a wall. They didn’t manage to escape until 4am.

That was during the darkest days of recession. Now that the economy has moved from intensive care into rehab, the annual office bash — a barometer of business confidence — is finally making a comeback. London party planners are reporting a 50 per cent jump in bookings compared with last year.

“For many businesses, the party was the first thing to go in the recession,” says Annabel Fielding, chief executive of Quintessentially Events. “Of course, some companies never stopped, but they did it more quietly and dropped the plus-ones.”

In the Square Mile, the pre-2007 excess of bankers behaving badly hasn’t quite returned. Back then, a friend employed by an Icelandic lender was whisked off to the land of hot springs and over-leveraged banks for a weekend-long champagne and Jacuzzi fest with all his colleagues.

But while the Pol Roger isn’t flowing quite so freely now, at least Christmas is no longer cancelled. After a hiatus of a few years, stockbroker Charles Stanley is again hosting a party for all its staff. The event will be held at the grand Honorable Artillery Company, although carriages will be called at 9pm.

Tirage Champagne et Plats, which opens on Bishopsgate on Thursday, already has Christmas bookings. “People booking their parties with us before they have even been into the restaurant is clearly a very good sign,” says Elio Machillanda, Tirage’s managing director.

Over in Canary Wharf, the restaurant One Canada Square — which only opened in October — is expecting a hectic party season. “We announced its opening in April, and were delighted to be receiving calls about Christmas party bookings almost immediately,” says Tom Martin, the co-owner of restaurant group ETM Group.

Meanwhile, over at Zuma in Knightsbridge, not far from hedge fund alley, there are only four nights on which the two private dining rooms are not both booked. And at Paramount restaurant at the top of Centre Point on Tottenham Court Road, bookings are up by a fifth on last year.

According to Quintessentially’s Fielding, there has also been a big pick-up in the number of deep-pocketed folk planning a private Christmas soirée in their own homes: “It was seen as a bit too showy for a while but now it’s an essential part of networking.”

Rebecca Burdess, sales director at party-planner The Admirable Crichton, adds: “There’s definitely a buoyancy in the market, although consumption is not as conspicuous as it once was. Clients want discreet bashes: low-key from the outside — so no lights on the front of buildings — but quality on the inside. That means the provenance of food is important — it’s got to be British, local and fresh — and they want quality champagne and entertainment. People are dying to have a little fun.” Themes that are proving popular include the Jazz Age, and all things Downton.

Perhaps we should be grateful for the move away from debauchery towards more sophisticated events. Back in 2006, a currency trader returned to his office in the City having enjoyed a little too much of Dionysus’s finest at the Christmas knees-up. The trader soiled himself, panicked and hid his trousers in the air duct. When a man came to fix the air conditioning system, the trousers fell on him.